


Puppy Piles Are Good For The Soul

by NoahLikesHummus



Series: Venom!Spidey AU [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Anne is The Badass, Anxiety, Insecurities, Mentions of homophobia, Multi, Nothing sexual though - Freeform, Peter Parker has the Venom Symbiote, Polyamorous Character, Polyamory, mentions of Foggy Nelson and Matt Murdock, mentions of Venom Symbiote, mentions of abandonment, mentions of peter parker, no beta we die like men, not at all accurate with the comics, this fic sounds really dark it really isn't
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-05
Updated: 2019-07-05
Packaged: 2020-06-09 21:59:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19484863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NoahLikesHummus/pseuds/NoahLikesHummus
Summary: A look into the lives of the San Francisco Trio, both before and after meeting one Peter Parker.





	Puppy Piles Are Good For The Soul

**Author's Note:**

> I'd like to make a note here that this is in no way canon to the comics.

_The thing about the law,_ Anne thinks as she idly twirls the phone cord in her hands, _is that it’s a load of bullshit._

She’s been in a philosophical mood, as of late. Alternating between reading age old books written by wealthy white men contemplating life and the satisfactions and sufferings it brings forth, and listening to tragic piano music.

If she’s being honest with herself, she can’t stand either things.

Though despite not being able to stand it, she continues to contemplate the morality of the world, along with how her landlord will react when he finds out she removed all of the smoke alarms in her apartment. One point eventually circles around until it reaches the other.

Hah, let the place burn to the ground, see what the piece of shit does about that!

(Not all that long ago there was an incident involving alcohol and a whole lot of verbal abuse directed at her neighbour. Unable to be blunt and upright about his behaviour, Dan helped Anne bake a Spotted Dick and Anne still wonders if he got the message. Probably not, the uncultured swine.)

She likes to pretend that her own morality has only been destroyed in recent months, but well, that’s not entirely true. Deep down she’s always been a spiteful badass when the situation calls for it, and she’s damn proud of it too.

Working her throat, tasting the dryness at the roof of her mouth, she sends a silent plea for any of the gods to strike her down before saying into the phone; ‘Yes Mr. Moris, the reason your gas service has been disconnected is because you don’t seem to have kept to the payment agreement we had organised a year ago.’

_‘Now listen here ya little cu-’_

Morality indeed.

* * *

The thing about living in a world that casually seeks to oppress the rights of those around you, that uses actions of hate as an excuse for ignorance, that continues to push those that are different down further and further like they don’t have the right to live, that preaches morality while also turning a blind eye to pain that is caused- there are a lot of things about it, but narrowed down to one fundamental, that kind of society is pretty fucked up.

Anne hadn’t always known that. She grew up in a two-storey house with a healthy green lawn out the front, rose bushes lining the perimeter and a white picket fence. She went to church every Sunday, had two white Labradors, and while her mother would sometimes flinch away from her fathers’ touch, they would always sit down together and have a meal at the end of the day.

(She hadn’t known the implications of that simple movement her mother made, at the time. Looking back on things, she tries not to spend too much time thinking about it.)

She would get all straight A’s in school, kept many friends, though none close. Life was, all in all, okay.

Then she left for college, despite the protests of her father. It was then, and after, that she learnt just how fucked up the world really was. And as a result, she became just another person to turn a blind eye as she climbed the ladder of a decent company. When she met Eddie and fell into bed with him, she turned a blind eye to all he was, too.

All she did was follow the crowd, just like a loyal dog would follows its master no matter how cruel the master may be.

Until everything fell through the roof, that is.

At first, she had blamed Eddie. He had, after all, leaked confidential information that she had on her computer. An abuse of trust, some would say. Anne, to this day, doesn’t disagree with that (that is what it was, after all), but she has learnt to swap that out for something far more accurate in describing Eddie as a whole in recent months; Idiocy.

But while she was busy blaming Eddie, she also lost her job, her home and the life she had planned out. It gave her time to think about what had happened all in all, it made her experience something not the same, but similar to, all those little things she had turned a blind eye. They weren’t so little, after all. Nor were they irrelevant.

So despite Eddie and his idiocy, she was able to see the world through a clear lens, and bare witness to just how wrong things really are.

Now, sitting at a receptionist desk, receiving verbal abuse from a man twice her age and with possibly more money than the entire small company she works for, she has become stronger than she ever knew she could become.

(Mr. Moris had come into the office at one point wearing not one, not two, but three Rolex’s. She contemplated just stealing them at that point. She still contemplates it every time she has to deal with him.)

And after the whole Cannibalistic-Aliens-Attempting-To-Invade-Earth thing, she’s fairly certain she has graduated from ‘strong, independent woman’ to, in both Dan and Eddie’s synced words last week, ‘a fucking badass who doesn’t take any shit’.

She loves her boys, and they aren’t wrong.

Despite her graduation to ‘fucking badass who doesn’t take any shit’, as she listens to Mr. Moris’ continued rant she wonders what exactly drove her to take this job, anyway.

Oh yeah, because no one else would hire her after the information leak. Yet somehow despite not being in any way qualified, she was able to land a job sorting out payment plans for a gas company. How that even worked, she doesn’t dare to question.

(If she wracked her mind a bit more, she would remember her now-boss saying, less than a minute into the interview; ‘Ye gods, I’ve met the Black Widow at one point, and you’ve got that same terrifying look about you, you’re hired!’)

_‘-all th’ friggin’ time! Maybe I’ll just change providers? How about tha’, ya-’_

Dear gods, she needs a drink.

* * *

Dan had a fairly normal life growing up, he learnt to crawl, then walk, and then how to climb on top of the roof when his family was visiting their great uncle Edmond overseas. His parents had been panicked, then stressed, then just happy to have found him. Of course his great uncle had known exactly where he had been, having taught him exactly how to do it.

His great uncle loved to stir up shit, which Dan had once gone into vivid detail about with his therapist at one point. But that’s neither here nor there.

(His therapist had informed him that his great uncle seemed to have some underlying issues with his family and the growing cultural diversity of them all. The therapist reassured him that it was nothing he did, that his uncle was just a massive dickhead still stuck in the 1700s, despite having been about 190 years too late for that time period.)

The point is that he used to travel a lot, having a large part of family spread across the earth could do that to someone, ~~not that he was all that fond of his family.~~

Some might argue that this style of living is not, in fact, a normality. For how many people have travelled overseas once or twice each year since they were still wrapped comfortably in the womb? Dan would argue that while the situation is not normal for most, it is his normal- well, was.

Disownment from family hurts, for sure. Disownment from a _wealthy, religious_ family? Well, honestly it isn’t all that different. It still hurts, and ends in having abandonment issues well into adulthood. Well, at least Grandma Martha still calls a few times a year.

So, Dan worked hard, spending all of his college days just as any other college student; living off instant noodles and working so hard there wasn’t any time left for rest. But he made it, he graduated and got his dream job. And to think all he lost in that phase of his life was his sense of morals, respect for the major government and his faith in humanity!

He made friends, too. Friends with rolls of weed, wild parties, and the monthly orgy. And sure, Dan was never the type to get high and run off into the night, but these people never cared about who he kissed or had sex with. Honestly, most of them joined in. He was accepted in a way few had accepted him before, and almost lost himself to the feeling.

But these things come and go.

Still, when Dan was making his way to the top of his field, he made friends of his co-workers. And unlike with his previous friend group, they would all gather around at a bar and have a couple of drinks every fortnight, discussing work, their homes and their lives happily.

Some of them would brag about their wives, others their kids, others would just sit and listen. Dan ended up being the only person who just sat quietly, which most of them chalked up to being new until he was no longer a newbie, then they figured that was just the way he was.

At one point his therapist suggested opening up to them, but there was never a right time, and so he never did. And it’s a barrier, he knows, to building a positive relationship with his co-workers out of work, but he can’t. He’s scared, ~~what if they throw him away like his parents?~~

Then Anne comes along. Sweet, amazing Anne. They sit in a dimly lit coffee shop on Valentine’s day, cliché images of romance surround them, and as they sit across from each other, steaming drinks placed in front of them, he blurts it straight out;

‘I’m bi.’

‘So am I.’

Anne. Amazing, powerful Anne.

They date. It isn’t all flowers and gushy kisses, Anne is still in love with her ex and has so many trust issues it would put Tony Stark’s security to shame, and Dan still has all of his insecurities and life scars, but they make it work. They make it work really, really well.

* * *

And then Eddie comes along, bringing with him a kid _(who is Spider-Man oh my god Spider-Man is a child what the fuck??)_ with an alien parasite and a plot to end humanity, and all Dan can think after all is said and done is; _oh no he’s hot._

It’s not just that Eddie is hot, of course. It’s about how strong-willed he is, how he pretends not to be kind when he really is. It’s about how little he gives a crap about anything, but also cares so much at the same time.

Dan can see how he and Anne were together for so long.

So can Anne, apparently. Because she calls the three of them for a gathering at her home, and Dan fears that he is going to lose the best relationship he has ever had; that he is going to lose this amazing part of his life and everything will go back to being work and sitting awkwardly with a pint in hand as his co-workers enjoy themselves and he hides away who he really is.

It turns out, in the end, that he doesn’t lose anything. Rather, he gains another incredible person in his life, one just as amazing as Anne.

~~What if they figure out that he is nowhere near as incredible as the two of them are?~~

* * *

Dan knows that he is insecure. He knows that he still has a long way to go in being able to be himself with confidence. But Anne and Eddie are there to support him, they know him in ways that no one has ever know him, and that enables him to learn to accept himself.

His therapist is rather happy with the progress.

* * *

_Eddie: so ive got that thing approved_

_Dan: That’s great! Have you told Anne yet? We should celebrate!_

_Eddie: nah im going to tell her tonight_

Dan’s fingers hover nervously over his phone screen, contemplating how to respond. Should he be generic? Can he take another step forward?

_Dan: Then tonight we celebrate! I’ll bring around a surprise and food. You can cook!_

Be himself it is.

* * *

The first thing Eddie does after Peter and Venom leave is speak to Anne.

The second thing he does is speak to both Anne and Dan about what comes next, though he did need some encouraging from Anne to have said conversation. Eddie doesn’t like confrontation, especially in regards to relationships. Some might say he’s had too much heartbreak and too little time to heal. He would argue that most relationships are stupid.

The third thing he does is search for more employment, which results in him once again picking up freelance work wherever he can. It isn’t too bad in the grand scheme of things, and he’s trying to do better. If not for one Peter Parker/Venom, then for Anne and Dan.

The fourth thing he does, after a lengthy discussion with both of his partners, is contact a lawyer.

‘Nelson and Murdock.’ Anne recommends. ‘They helped me with the divorce, and then some back in New York. I’m sure they’ll do long distance if you ask them. They also don’t worry too much about how much money you have.’

And so Eddie contacts Nelson and Murdock.

‘It’ll be a difficult case,’ Franklin Nelson informs him, ‘but we’ll give it our best shot.’

* * *

Life moves on. Life improves.

Eddie finds himself more and more often in the company of Anne and Dan, wondering what it is exactly the two of them find desirable in him. There are still old hurts and insecurities unsuccessfully buried in his mind, just as there are moments of tension between himself and Anne. But Anne and Dan are always there, ready to pick him back up when he falls down, and he tries his best to do the same for them.

It’s stupid and sappy, but it makes him so happy that sometimes, just sometimes, he cries.

He receives phone calls, most from the lawyers, but a few from Peter as well. The kid is always getting into some form of trouble, from doing something stupid like almost killing his school bully to agreeing to help fucking Iron Man out in his war against Captain fucking America.

Seriously, does the mutant-symbiote combination even know what laying low is?

When Peter starts telling Eddie of their nightly activities out of suit, Eddie comes to the conclusion that no, no they do not know what being discreet means. This idiotic teenager is going to get themselves either killed or locked up as a science experiment, and there is no way Eddie is going to let that happen.

Anne and Dan agree on that.

So the three of them hold their nightly get-togethers even more often, plotting and planning. Together, there’s no way in hell anyone will hurt their kid.

* * *

It is on the day of a gathering when Eddie receives the good news. He’s in the middle of pestering a semi-wealthy businessman in the midst of a life-ruining scandal when his phone buzzes. Being the _very professional_ person he is, Eddie gestures for the businessman to shut the fuck up while he takes the call.

The businessman is very offended, and does not shut the fuck up.

Eddie shrugs, walking away from the man and flipping him the bird on the way out.

‘I’ll be speaking to a lawyer about this!’ The businessman shouts out.

Eddie snorts, he’s already speaking to a lawyer. A lawyer with news of success.

_Beat that, dipshit._

* * *

He tells Dan first. They both plan to break the news to Anne slowly, over a dinner prepared by the both of them.

It’s mainly Dan’s idea, and Eddie can’t help but wonder if the other man has gone insane. Eddie can’t cook, never has been able to. About the only thing he can do without there being fire and chaos is microwave takeout or throw processed foods in the oven, but even then, it’s a bit of a gamble. It runs in his family, or so he has been told.

The how and the why don’t matter. What does matter is that he can’t freaking cook to save his life.

But Dan reassures him that everything will be fine, he’s bringing something over that he was gifted by his grandmother who lives in the Southern Hemisphere. A cultural artefact, absolutely anyone can cook on one of these, though it was a bit on the expensive side to send over. Which was a fairly pointless feat anyway, because America has these items as well. Or so Dan says.

Eddie is sceptical.

Oh well, he’s never given a shit about these things before. Why start now?

* * *

The first thing Anne takes note of when she arrives home is that there is an open grill smack dab in the middle of her cosy, small apartment. Idly, she wonders why the smoke detectors haven’t gone off yet, only to remember that ah, she doesn’t have any.

If her apartment burns down, insurance will be a bitch to sort out. But, well, she really couldn’t give a fuck at this point. What she does give a fuck about, however, is that Eddie is turning sausages on the grill with a look of I-have-no-idea-what-I’m-doing-please-help-me on his face.

She opens her mouth, about to a) ask what’s going on, and b) ask what the _fuck_ is going on.

Before she can do so, Dan pokes his head out from the kitchen. ‘Welcome back!’ He greets, a bowl of salad cradled carefully in his hands. ‘The meat should just about be ready- wait Eddie, take them off before they burn even more!’

‘Oh shit.’ Eddie jumps into action, flinging the sausages off the heat and onto a plate nearby. A couple land on the floor, which he scrambles to pick up and place discreetly on the side. ‘Why was I left in charge of cooking?’ He mutters.

‘It was that or the salad.’ Is Dan’s response, and it amazes Anne just how far these two have come.

That Dan knows how terrible Eddie is in the kitchen is one thing; that he knows not to let Eddie anywhere near the kitchen is another. Eddie can’t even reheat leftovers without something going wrong at some stage, despite having the knowledge to do so.

Honestly, Anne has always just chalked it up to him being cursed at some point. With everything that’s out there in the universe, it wouldn’t surprise her in the least.

What’s even more amazing is exactly how well the two are working together.

‘So,’ she starts with a gesture to the grill in her living room, ‘who’s idea was this?’

She’s more than willing to bet that it was Eddie’s idea, but the polite thing would be to ask before the fact that there is an _open grill_ in her _living room_ syncs in.

‘It was my idea.’

And that wasn’t Eddie’s voice.

Anne looks at Dan, who had spoken the words, then to Eddie. Eddie is shifting slightly from foot to foot, mouthing in Dan’s general direction what is more than likely an ‘I told you so!’ Looking back to Dan she allows a small smile tug at her lips at his conceding shrug back in Eddie’s direction.

‘Is it safe?’

Eddie snorts at her question, Dan pushes him out of the way to turn off the grill.

‘I do it all the time back at my place.’ He reassures. ‘And I figured that we could do a little surprise celebration, of sorts, because you know that thing we’ve been planning? Eddie finally got things sorted out on his end and-’

‘Hey! What the fuck, man? I was going to break the news after a few drinks!’

Ignoring Eddie, Dan continues; ‘And I figured that if we go through with things, I should inform you that barbecues? They’re a cultural thing for me.’

Anne blinks, digesting the vague information she’s been given. The thing with Eddie, right. And…

‘A cultural thing?’ She asks.

‘He’s Australian!’ Eddie declares.

‘My grandmother is!’ Dan corrects. ‘I just picked up a bit of their culture on my trips to visit her, and let me tell you, barbecues are _cheap_.’ He pauses. ‘If you do it right, that is.’

‘We do have barbecues here.’ Anne feels the need to tell the two men in front of her.

‘Ah,’ Dan says, ‘but do we dump a heap of seasoning on something or just outright burn it until it’s so inedible you can actually eat it? I would think not!’

Anne gives him a blank look. Eddie joins her.

Sighing, Dan puts down the salad bowl in order to bring her the plate of sausages. ‘See here?’ He gestures to the charcoaled remains of the sausages, then explains; ‘These are still all edible, vaguely. Even Eddie can cook them like this! And when we move to New York, that’ll be pretty important.’

‘He’s got a point.’ Eddie agrees.

Anne stares at the sausages sceptically. Eventually, she sighs. ‘Alright, let’s try them.’

Unsurprisingly, they taste exactly as they look; like a burnt mess. Surprisingly, they’re still edible. As the night continues, the three spend the time drinking wine (or in Eddie’s case, beer) and discussing their plans further.

They talk about how things will work, about budgeting. About her and Dan’s new job and Eddie’s freelancing. They also mock San Francisco, in a friendly way, laughing at their experiences in a way that they might not have been able to had they not known they would be moving.

When it comes to discussing their friends, they contemplate what to tell them, how the three of them will break the news. Anne isn’t too concerned, her list of close friends consists of the two men sitting on the small couch with her, all snuggled up and very close to dragging all three of them into a puppy pile.

Dan talks about his work friends for a bit, about the trust he has built with his colleagues in the workforce and how that has carried over into meetups and gatherings. He says he doesn’t mind leaving those bonds behind, that he is excited to meet new people and start over.

Anne believes him, but also knows that those friends of Dan’s have never truly known him.

Eddie doesn’t say anything on the subject, but that’s okay, too.

‘So,’ Anne starts, a smile pulling at her lips as she snuggles into the two warm bodies on either side of her. A puppy pile indeed, albeit a somewhat intoxicated one. ‘When are we going to tell Peter about the move?’

Eddie snorts. ‘Let’s surprise him.’

‘M’hm.’ Dan hums his agreement, snuggling further into the pile sleepily.

Anne thinks everything about the situation is adorable, not that she would ever admit it aloud. Instead, she says; ‘I think this is a terrible idea.’

‘But it’ll be fun.’ Eddie shoots back.

Well, she can’t argue with that.

There is silence for a while. One of the two men are snoring, the other humming quietly. The sounds are soothing, bringing Anne a comfort she hasn’t felt in a long time. And when she is just about ready to drift off completely, she hears Dan slur; ‘So’r the p’ppy pil’s gonna be a thin’ now?’

Eddie continues snoring, and Anne snorts.

‘Shit yeah they are.’


End file.
